Dear Friends and supporters of PCCA,
I am sad to inform you that Hermann Beland passed away last night, surrounded by his family.
Hermann Beland was a key figure in the inception and shaping of PCCA. He was an integral part of the creation and launching of the German-Israeli Group Relations Conferences, known as the Nazareth Conferences in Germany. He approached this initiative with little knowledge of the Group Relations approach but with a deeply felt concern for the impact of the Holocaust on his German colleagues and social fabric, and a sincere desire to understand and contribute to their Israeli-Jewish counterparts. His dedication to this project led to his participation in OFEK Group Relations Conferences to enable him to take up staff roles in the projected conferences. Together with Rafael Moses and me, he played an essential role in the exchange and deliberation with Eric Miller that led to the special design of the German-Israeli conferences and became the eventual working modality of PCCA. When PCCA was created in 2007 he was one of its founders and served as an influential Board Member until he retired from it in 2016.
Hermann Beland’s contributions to PCCA and the German-Israeli relationship was set against a rich background of humane concern, religion, and deeply held psychoanalytic principles. He studied theology but eventually chose psychoanalysis and became a leading figure in German psychoanalysis. He served as president of the German Psychoanalytic Association (DPV), supervised and taught in Germany and abroad, and published prolifically on psychoanalytic subjects.
I will highlight two of his published books that illustrate his involvement in PCCA and his deeply held connection between psychoanalysis and societal concerns: Fed with Tears, Poisoned with Milk. The “Nazareth” Group-Relations-Conferences: Germans and Israelis: The Past in the Present (with Shmuel Erlich and Mira Erlich-Ginor) [Gestillt Mit Tränen – Vergiftet Mit Milch (German Edition)] and: Die Angst vor Denken und Tun:
Psychoanalytische Aufsätze zu Theorie, Klinik und Gesellschaft [The Fear of Thinking and Doing: Psychoanalytic Essays on Theory, Clinic, and Society].
Hermann Beland was an outstanding thinker, a great teacher, a dedicated healer, a courageous leader, and above all – a dear friend. He will be sorely missed.
Our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and all those who benefited from his presence.
Shmuel Erlich
Chair, PCCA